Neil retires after 15 seasons with Senators

OTTAWA -- Forward Chris Neil, who turned a relentless work ethic into a 15-year career with the Ottawa Senators, retired Thursday.
Neil, 38, played 1,026 NHL games, all with the Senators; only defenseman Chris Phillips (1,179) and former captain Daniel Alfredsson (1,178) played more. He had 250 points (112 goals, 138 assists), and is the Senators' all-time penalty minutes leader with 2,522, 20th in NHL history. Neil and longtime New Jersey Devils defenseman Ken Daneyko are the only NHL players to have played 1,000 games and had more than 2,500 penalty minutes while spending their entire career with one franchise.

Neil will take part in the Senators Alumni Classic on Parliament Hill on Friday, part of the 2017 Scotiabank NHL100 Classic celebrations. The Senators play the Montreal Canadiens at Lansdowne Park on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVA Sports, NHL.TV).
Neil's career and contributions to the community will be recognized before the Senators host the Boston Bruins Jan. 25.
"It's an honor and privilege to be here to recognize one of the greatest Senators of all time in Chris Neil," Senators general manager Pierre Dorion said. "Chris was a leader, a warrior and one of the toughest men to ever wear the jersey. He was a player that was always there for his teammates and a player feared by the opposition."
Neil said he had offers to join other teams at the beginning of the season, but being at home with his wife, Caitlin, daughter Hailey and sons Cole and Finn, he realized "it just wasn't the right fit."
"I had been so spoiled playing here in Ottawa as a Senator my whole entire career," he said. Signing with another team "just didn't feel right."
Neil was selected in the sixth round (No. 161) of the 1998 NHL Draft, and spent three seasons in the minors before joining the Senators in 2001.
"One of the things I'm most proud of is I've always been an underdog," Neil said. "I was a late-round draft pick to the OHL, a late round pick to the NHL. I always had something to prove. I never took it for granted that I was on a team."